A window into the Proterozoic: Integrating 3D seismic, gravity, and magnetic data to image subbasement structures in the southeast Fort Worth basin

Abstract

The Fort Worth basin (FWB) is one of the most fully developed shale gas fields in North America. Although there are hundreds of drilled wells in the basin, almost none of them reach the Precambrian basement. Imaged by perhaps 100 3D seismic surveys, the focus on the relatively shallow, flat-lying Barnett Shale objective has resulted in little published work on the basement structures underlying the Lower Paleozoic strata. Subtle folds and systems of large joints are present in almost all 3D seismic surveys in the FWB. At the Cambro-Ordovician Ellenburger level, these joints are often diagenetically altered and exhibit collapse features at their intersections. We discovered how the basement structures relate to overlying Paleozoic reservoirs in the Barnett Shale and Ellenburger Group. In support of our investigation, the Marathon Oil Company provided a high-quality, wide-azimuth, 3D seismic data near the southeast fringe of the FWB. In addition to the seismic volume, we integrated the seismic results with gravity, magnetic, well log, and geospatial data to understand the basement and subbasement structures in the southeast FWB. Major tectonic features including the Ouachita frontal thrust belt, Lampasas arch, Llano uplift, and Bend arch surround the southeast FWB. Euler deconvolution and integrated forward gravity modeling helped us extend our interpretation beyond the 3D seismic survey into a regional context.